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So the Macworld Expo ends for another year. Guy couldn’t find Julie Kuehl to podcast with so he did a short solo show in the press room. While we wish the fun times could go on forever, we’re all too tired to go another day.

You’ve heard it before: backup, backup, backup. You’ve also heard how you should back up to a bootable clone, using software like Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner, and have another backup from which you can retrieve individual files, like Time Machine. Finally, you should also have your files backed up off site.

I recently purchased a one year subscription to CrashPlan for my off site backup. I immediately told the software to upload my entire hard drive. Twelve days later it finished. Oh how I wish I had read Take Control of CrashPlanbefore I clicked the upload button.

Think of CrashPlan as insurance. You may not need it today. You hope you will never need it. You will be glad you have it, when you need it.

Besides death and taxes the other assurance in life is one day your hard drive will fail. That also includes the newest hard drive technology: SSD (Solid State Drive). Your computer may be stolen, and you may be a victim of a home fire or natural disaster. Don’t let your precious files, family photographs, and videos become victims also.

CrashPlan is one of the most complete backup packages I have come across. The most amazing part is you get full control over every aspect of your data. The online storage and corresponding application work seamlessly delivering a level of simplicity rarely seen in such a powerful service.

CrashPlan–Backup Solution for Macintosh
Company: Code 42
Price: Standard version $20, Pro version $60 (client software only).
For remote data storage, up to 50GB for $5/month; additional $0.10/month per GB of data over 50GB
(storage is free if using a friend’s computer as the remote destination).http://www.crashplan.com

Let’s get this out of the way immediately: Using the word “crash” in the name of a backup solution for your critical data is bound to bring on a serious case of bad karma. So I salute the Code 42 folks for having the chutzpah to tell it like it is when it came to bestowing a name on their ingenious backup software.

CrashPlan is a powerful, inexpensive and easy to use backup solution that runs on Mac, Windows, and even Linux. While it most closely resembles offsite backup services like BackJack or Mozy, in that it moves data to a remote location as opposed to a local hard drive or tape backup, the real beauty of CrashPlan is that it allows you to choose the remote location, which can be any Macintosh, Windows or Linux computer that a) the owner of said computer (presumably a friend/family member/poker buddy) allows you to access, and b) has enough free space to back up your stuff. In fact, the Code 42 folks actually encourage this; apparently they’re happy just selling you the client software, even though they do offer storage space at their data facility.

Not only can you use your Mom’s PC as a backup destination, but thanks to CrashPlan’s ultra-friendly invitation options, you might not even need to call her to ask!